How this term has grown in significance over the past couple of seasons.
Until recently this was never officially reported - perhaps to avoid giving the opposition unnecessary information about team strength.

This weekend a combination of:
Being away on International duty,
Suffering long-term injuries,
Bans (whether merited or not),

I calculate that 19 first team members are indeed "Unavailable for Selection".

This situation robs the paying customer of seeing these players perform - in some cases for very long periods, and disrupts the creativity of building a consistant team ethos.

Is this just unfortunate and a product of the modern game or should it be a subject for serious consideration?

PG I agree with your thrust.
At the mo it benefits teams to have chaps of 16stones or more in every position. Boring.
So, gone is the variation in contribution, cos there is no need for fat blokes who don't go backwards in scrums but in compensation aren't required to run around much.
Conversely the thin speedy artistic types aren't needed because there's no space anywhere anyway.
Q. If that's the problem how do you solve it?
A. Change The Laws so that any player whose shirt number is in double figures should be banned from being in any ruck or maul at any time ever.
Sorted.
This is not entirely in jest.

sid the seagullPG I agree with your thrust.
At the mo it benefits teams to have chaps of 16stones or more in every position. Boring.
So, gone is the variation in contribution, cos there is no need for fat blokes who don't go backwards in scrums but in compensation aren't required to run around much.
Conversely the thin speedy artistic types aren't needed because there's no space anywhere anyway.
Q. If that's the problem how do you solve it?
A. Change The Laws so that any player whose shirt number is in double figures should be banned from being in any ruck or maul at any time ever.
Sorted.
This is not entirely in jest.

What the lawmakers need to do is restore the space in the game to allow running rugby.

The best way to do this is to create a breakdown which requires the majority of forwards on both sides to commit. The breakdown needs to be deep enough for "back foot" to be more than a foot or two away from opposition so that there is a genuine separation between attacker and defender when the ball emerges.

This needs to be supported by proper policing of the offside line to allow a true "no man's land" between team in possession and defending team when the scrum half gets the ball.

This should reduce the number of collision between the largest players clogging up the midfield and reduce the need for teams to batter their way forward as the main means of progress- so reducing injury and increasing spectacle and entertainment.

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